Railway signal-fusee.



I "W10. B'EOKWITH. RAILWAY SIGNAL FUSEEv APPLICATION FILED JULY5, 1912.

Patented Feb. 1119M UNITED-STA'EES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER c. mcKwrrH, or rosronm, 01110, AssIeNon r CHARLES c; GERMAN, 0F

FQSTORIA, OHIO.

RAILWAY SIGNAL-FUSEE.

Applicati'on'filed July 5, 1912. Serial No. 707,787,

To all whom it may; concern Be It known that I, WALTER C. BEoKWrrH',

fit citizen of the United States, residin at Fostoria, in the county of Seneca and tate of Ohio, have invented certain new-and'u'se ful Improvements in Railway 1 Signal- Fusees, of which the'following is a specificaits - central sectional view through a portion of' tion, reference being had therein tokthe ac; 'companymg drawing.

This inyention' relatesltoimprovements in rallwaysignal fusees, and it has for itsob- 'ject the providing of means for insuringthe 1 ignition of-the time burning'comp'ound within the paper tube of the fusee,and to provide an ignition means for the compound should it be extinguished by the shock when thrown from a fast moving train, or from any other cause.- i

,In the accompanying draw1ng's'F1gure 1 is a perspective viewof a fusee embodying my improvement. Fig; 2 is a longitudina the fusee showing my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 3 is-a central longitudinal sectional view of a portion ofv the fusee, showing a modification of .my invention. Fig. 4:

is a cross sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5. is a longitudinal central sectional View of a portion of a fusee-showmg my nnprovement applied to an open end.

tube.

' It is well know to manufacturers and persons skilled in'thisfartthat under the fusee" specifications of the Bureau for the Safe;

Transportation of Explosives and Other -Dangerous Articles,- that a fusee composition'offmattermust have a very high igniacteristic of the fuseecomposition, the com-j tion point. By reason of this requ1red.char.

position is as a consequence relatively difficult to light and relativelyjdi'fiicult toflkeep' burning under all of the severeconditions to which such fusee's' amesub ected. wBy reason of the high ignition point and the high tent-Q perature point fusees are sometimes ext1n-- guishedfby the shock which they receive when thrown from a fast moving train, or, :they may be extinguished whenthrown into a snowbank-in severe-cold-weatherh ThlS ex-- '50; tii1guishnoentwhether from shock or otherwise, occurs only when the fusee compost tio'ni'ha's not been thoroughly .lighted by the lighting" medium usually employed for that.

ur ose. '6 p p the .tube' l is provided with an open or un-' crlmped end 3, as shown in Fig. 5. In carry mg out my present improvement, I surround 4 USE It is the ob jectofimypresent improvement I to provide additional'rneansfor insuring the I S peeifmati'un. Ietteislatent. ifatent d Feb 17 1914 and it i'salso well-known that in themanufa'cture' of these. papertubes they areroll'ed from asheet'of tough paper. 1 he se tubes are usuallyprovided with crimped ends 2, as shown inFigs'. 1, 2 and 3, though sometimes the fusee composition 4, at the lighting end of the tube, with an auxiliary igniting means;v This igniting means'will be saturated with either lead nitrate; or chlorate potassium, or saltpeter, wlncl1 substanceslare of a relatively lowi'gnition'andloiv burning po nts and which will stand shocks withoutj being extinguishedand which will extremely low temperatures.

My improvement may be carried out, as.

shown in Figs. land 2, bysaturatin the paper tube lfor a .distance of an inc or an inch and a half'from the lighting end of the tube, as shown at15 in Figs. 1 and 2, wh ch constitutes the tube as the surrounding igniting member for insuring the thorough ignitionand the-burning of the fuseecompound 4, under the severe-usage to which the .fusee is subject, practically after it is ignited. ,This the preferredform of prac tisi fsu my improvement, because. it is the sinip'lest and cheapest, and when this form is -,-I preferably saturate .the edge of they paper sheet fromwhichthe tube is rolled for the required distance, though it may be s'at'.-.

urated after the tube has been'formed.

' ,It is also well-knownthat in-railway time burning. signal fusee's that a suitable initial y 'is capable of being ignitedilike a safety chlorite ignition stratum 6 is provided, which mat-chin a-manner well understood. This chlorate igniting stratum conveys fire tothe fusee composition and in-my, improvement, it also conveys fire to the saturated. portion .5 of the 'tube,' w hich' constitutes, the tube as an ignition device tojsupplement and carry on theignition which isstarted by the chlo-.

rate stratum,"and sincev this saturated pen, tidnv of tlietube completely surrounds the bumv i composition, a thorough, etficient and com-.

.plete ignition of the fusee compound is insured under all of the severe usages to which fuse-es are subjected.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a modification of my improvement in that instead of saturatin the tube 1, as in Figs. 1 and 2, I pirofits within the lighting end-of the fusee tube] vi e a short tubular. paper section 7, which and surrounds the fusee'compound 4. In this instance the annular ortubular portion 7 is saturated in the manner explained in connection with the saturationof the tube in Figs. land 2, andpperates in the same manner to constitute an ignition device. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, there is. provided a suitable separating combustible material 8 between plied to a tube 1 having the open end 3, and

in this instance, the en'd'of the tube is closed by a suitable lighting head 6* to which the chlorate G is applied.

' Having thus described my invention, what I-claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s :1

1. An improved railway time burning sigcomposition therein, the lighting end of the tube surrounding the fusee composition being saturatedv with a combustible substance having a lower ignition and burning point than the ignition and burning point of the fusee composition. 7

' 2. An improvedrailway time burning signal fusee comprising a fiber tube, a fusee composition therein, the lighting end'of the tube surrounding the fusee composition being saturated with a combustible substance. for the purpose described. a

. In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in'the presence of two witnesses.

. IVALTER G. BEOKWITH. lVitnesses: 1 C. VILLENEEVE,

Gno. F. LoNz.

nal fusee comprising a fiber tube, a 'fusee" 

